Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-25 October 1400) was an English poet and author who was regarded as the "Father of English Literature" due to his authorship of The Canterbury Tales, the first

Biography
Geoffrey Chaucer was born in London, England in 1343 to a family of wine merchants. He served as a page to Lionel, Duke of Clarence before becoming a civil servant, serving as a justice of the peace, a knight of the shire, and a member of Parliament for Kent and becoming a prominent figure at the Plantagenet court. In 1372, he was sent to Italy, where he studied in Florence and acquired manuscripts of works by Dante, Petrarch, and Bocaccio. He was inspired by their early Renaissance-era writing methods, and he was influenced by the storytelling of Italian medieval poems; Bocaccio's own romances inspired Chaucer's "The Knight's Tale". In 1386, he began to write The Canterbury Tales, intending to write 120 stories (2 for each of the pilgrims on the road to the shrine to Thomas Becket at Canterbiry in his poem), but only writing 22 stories before his death in 1400. His satirical Canterbury Tales were narrated by several pilgrims en route to Canterbury, parodying the many social classes and walks of life in 14th century England. He died in London at the age of 57 in 1400.